Last winter, I discovered Advent of Code and decided to give it a go. While participating in real-time was not an option given my calendar, I decided

Finishing the Advent of Code in the Summer

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2024-09-03 09:30:11

Last winter, I discovered Advent of Code and decided to give it a go. While participating in real-time was not an option given my calendar, I decided to work on it at my own pace.

The summer is approaching and I am glad to report that I made it all the way through. So I thought I would share my solutions, focusing on the final days to Christmas (link to my github repo).

What makes AoC particularly interesting is that some problems require you to look at the data. So in an sense, it feels a bit like a mixture of a coding and a data challenge.

We are given a graph representing nodes in a state machine. Part 1 requires coding the graph and nodes correctly to determine the number of low pulses and high pulses that would be sent after pushing the button 1000 times.

Part 2 is about determining the number of runs required for a specific node to send a high-pulse. It would be tempting to brute-force it, but alas… the graph is designed to make this intractable.